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58. Meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Everything dies, that’s a fact…

On the way home from our stay in Cape May, we just had to stop off for a peek at the subject of one of my favourite Springsteen songs, Atlantic City. AC is the Vegas of the East (and easily one of the tackiest places on Earth). Jersey girl had of course been there before but this was to be my first visit.

Image; Columbia Pictures

I had an idea of what the place would be like (mainly based on movies like The King of Marvin Gardens and American Hustle) but nothing could prepare me for the reality.

We drove into the casino area and found a park easily enough. We were only two blocks from the boardwalk but what an education those two blocks proved to be.

Looks OK from a distance.Still OK…Uhmm…

For a start, tackiness here has reached an unprecedented level, one I had previously been unaware could credibly be achieved. For another thing, whole vast complexes are empty and shuttered. When I asked Jersey girl about it she simply told me the entire city was basically bankrupt. Well OK then.

Tacky.Empty.

Then we hit the boardwalk. It’s like someone gave a random seven year old an architecture degree and about a billion bucks and just said “do whatever you feel”. This is one of those times it’s best to mostly just let the pictures do the talking.

And back to tacky.

Seriously, don’t even ask.Fake facade, hmm, tasty.

I’m gonna go with not!

It wasn’t all dreadful, some original buildings still struggle to maintain their positions among the modern rubbish. This was my personal favourite..

There were also the boardwalk cats who were the most charming people we met there all morning.

Lady feeding the gulls next to the sign that reads “please do not feed the gulls”.

At this point things started to get a bit – trippy.

Trump is now apparently using his distinctive hair as a logo. Now that’s brand recognition.

By this juncture (our eyes burning with images that could not be unseen), we’d had our fill of the land of a thousand T shirt concessions. The sun had finally made an appearance and we were becoming uncomfortably warm. It was time to bid farewell to this ticky tacky wonderland.

A small glimpse of what the Atlantic City beyond the casinos and boardwalk actually looks like.